Turkish military launches incursion into Iraq: Syria may be next

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- About 10,000 Turkish soldiers have crossed into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels, and more soldiers may be sent into Syria to eradicate guerrilla bases there, news reports said.

Turkey's incursion Friday followed two days of airstrikes against suspected rebel bases, the daily Hurriyet said Saturday.

Turkish Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey wage cross-border raids from camps in Iraq, Iran and Syria.

The Ankara government accuses Syria of aiding the rebels, a charge Damascus denies.

In an effort to ease escalating tension between Syria and Turkey, Egypt said Saturday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would travel to Damascus and Ankara for talks.

A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman told the Anatolia news agency that Mubarak was expected to arrive in Ankara on Monday.

Turkey puts Syria on notice

On Friday, Turkey strongly warned Syria that its "patience was running out," and Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz was quoted Saturday by the daily Hurriyet as saying, "The soldier is awaiting an order."

But an intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troop deployments were targeting not Syria, but infiltrations of Kurdish rebels.

Syria said Saturday it was ready to resolve the crisis with Turkey through diplomatic means even though Ankara had ignored repeated calls for dialogue over security.

"While reiterating its firm rejection to the policies of confrontation, escalation and threats from any party, Syria affirms its keen interest to maintain good neighborly ties with Turkey," an official Syrian spokesman said in a statement.

"Syria expresses readiness to discuss issues which concern both states by diplomatic means and in an atmosphere of mutual confidence," he said.

"This dialogue should serve the joint interests of both states and promote Arab-Turkish relations," the spokesman added.

Border war games push tensions to the limit

On Saturday, Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin said Turkey would soon carry out an exercise near the Syrian border, private NTV television reported.

Turkey has never conducted war games along the Syrian border.

In a show of force, Turkish jets buzzed along the Syrian border Friday, daily Radikal reported Saturday.

Hurriyet newspaper said the Turkish units also sealed the escape routes of the rebels along the Syrian-Iraqi border inside northern Iraq.

Sezgin said Turkey was still trying to use diplomatic means to solve the problem. "But there is a limit of patience," NTV quoted him as saying. "Then we will do whatever necessary."

Damascus denied the allegations and accused Turkey of plotting with Israel to create a crisis with the aim of undermining Syria.

In Jerusalem, Defense Ministry spokesman Avi Benayahu said Israel was not involved "in any way" in the Turkey-Syria confrontation.

Turkish ambassador recalled

Meanwhile, Turkey's ambassador to Rome arrived back in Turkey on Saturday over a diplomatic crisis involving Italy and Kurdish dissidents.

Ambassador Inal Batu was recalled after Turkey strongly protested a meeting inside Italy's parliament building of a group called the Turkish Kurds' parliament-in-exile.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.